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A €20m budget and just 67 field inspectors: Is the HSA up to the task of policing the Covid reopening?

Success in re-opening in Ireland is relying on community transmission of Covid-19 not to rise sharply again.

0010 Builders Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

AS THOUSANDS OF people return to work during Phase One of the government’s reopening plan, there is a massive responsibility upon each and every employer to make sure workplaces are as safe as possible. 

The level of transmission of Covid-19 within the community has fallen sharply in recent weeks and, according to Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan, has effectively been “extinguished”.

For Ireland to enter Phase Two of re-opening and beyond, health authorities have said it is imperative this progress continues.

The Health and Safety Authority has a key role in drafting the plan to ensure there is no resurgence of the virus in Ireland’s workplaces. 

The agency will also have responsibility for inspecting places of work to ensure they are adhering to the correct health and safety guidelines, particularly around social distancing.

If an inspector witnesses workplace practices that are particularly egregious, they will have the power to seek a court order to shut the premises down.

And, with a Return to Work Safely protocol devised by the HSA and other government agencies now in effect, business has its own roadmap for what it should be doing to protect its staff and customers as they return to work. 

However, amid criticism that the agency has been to slow to act in certain sectors so far – particularly in the area of meat processing -  questions are being asked if the HSA is ready and able to cope with policing the Covid-19 re-opening.

What is the HSA?

The HSA was established in 1989 when the government enacted the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act.

Addressing the Dáil at the time then-Labour Minister Bertie Ahern said the “clear objective” in setting up this authority was to “help reduce accidents and ill-health at work which gives rise to human loss and suffering”. 

coronavirus-mon-may-18-2020 Construction workers return to work at a site in Castleknock Aine McMahon / PA Images Aine McMahon / PA Images / PA Images

It is Ireland’s statutory body with responsibility for ensuring workers are protected from work-related injury and ill-health. It also provides advice and guidance for businesses to adhere to health and safety requirements. 

Headquartered in Dublin, the HSA has a budget this year of €20 million. 

In 2018, the last full year for which figures are available, it carried out 9,000 inspections and investigations. A large number of these were in construction (4,026) and agriculture (1,852). 

Under the heading of wholesalers, retailers and garages, there were 792 inspections and 122 investigations completed. And there where were 165 inspections of accommodation and food service companies along with 30 investigations.

In previous years, however, the HSA carried out far more inspections. In fact, the number of completed inspections each year fell steadily in the last decade. In 2011, there were 15,420 inspections and investigations. In 2015, the total number had fallen to 10,880.

In a statement to TheJournal.ie in 2016, a spokesperson for the HSA said it was aiming to “do more with less” after figures showed its funding for workplace safety initiatives had been cut almost in half. 

It has 182 full-time employees, which is made of staff in administration and inspector grades. 

The latest figures provided just this week show there are 109 full-time equivalent staff across the inspector grades. Of these, 67 field inspectors have been assigned to inspect premises on foot of the Return to Work Safely Protocol. 

The government says this protocol should be used by all workplaces to make sure they adapt their procedures and practices to comply fully with all the public health protection measures. 

It sets out clearly what employers’ responsibilities are, what workers must be made aware of, and what workers must themselves but do with the aim of ensuring the spread of Covid-19 is as limited as possible. 

As part of the effort to keep Covid-19 suppressed, there will be an urgent need to inspect premises across the country. The demands on the HSA’s resources will increase throughout the summer as more and more businesses return to operation under the government’s five-phase plan.

What powers do inspectors have? 

There are a couple of pieces of legislation under which the HSA inspectors are granted powers, including the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Chemicals Act 2008.

coronavirus-tue-may-19-2020 Traffic on the M50 in Dublin as phase one of Ireland's five phase exit plan was triggered on Monday. Brian Lawless / PA Images Brian Lawless / PA Images / PA Images

When an inspector visits a workplace, they have powers to initiate a number of actions if they spot something that gives them cause for concern.

Under law, they’re entitled to enter a business and look at the level of preparedness on safety and health management on site.

These powers include:

  • They have the right to enter a place they believe is a place of work. They have the power to search and examine that premises or any process or procedure carried out there.
  • They can ask workers to produce records they require, ask questions relating to their inspection, take measurements or photographs, and even remove something they believe may be a risk to safety.
  • They can issue what is called an Improvement Direction when they identify an activity which may involve risk to the safety of health of people. The employer must take appropriate action to address the issue or risk the matter escalating.
  • Inspectors can also issue a Prohibition Notice. This is when they identify something which involves a risk of serious personal injury to any person. By law, the place of work will have to comply with this direction and won’t be able to carry on whatever activity has been prohibited until they address the matter. 
  • They can gather evidence and prepare a report on an investigation so that the Director of Public Prosecutions can initiate proceedings in the Circuit Court. 
  • Inspectors can also apply “ex-parte” to the High Court to seek an order to restrict or prohibit work activities at part or all of a workplace.

To give an idea of the amount of times they would exercise these powers, of the 9,000 inspections and investigations in 2018, inspectors issued 450 Improvement notices and 500 Prohibition notices.

A HSA spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that the time takento initiate actions to shut a premises down can vary from case to case.

The spokesperson said: “In relation to ex parte High Court applications, each case would be considered on its own merits and the length of time involved depends on the circumstances of the particular situation.

However, the use of this process is expected to be the exception rather than the rule as HSA inspectors already have a range of enforcement powers at their disposal including, for example, improvement notices and prohibition notices. Our approach in the first instance is to engage with employers with a view to resolving any safety, health and welfare issues.

Does it have enough resources to respond to coronavirus?

Facing the scrutiny of TDs this week, HSA CEO Dr Sharon McGuinness fielded questions on the Return to Work Safely Protocol.

The main sticking point was whether the HSA has enough resources to actually follow through with what’s required and be able to inspect thousands of businesses as the economy reopens. 

The protocol was published on 9 May before Phase One started, and was put together by the HSA in collaboration with the HSE and Department of Health. Discussions were also held with unions and employers groups before it was finalised.

0028 Builders RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

Each workplace will have to appoint at least one lead worker whose responsibility it is to ensure that Covid-19 measures are strictly adhered to.

It is incumbent on employers to develop detailed plans for their business in advance of returning to work. It’s also the responsibility of workers to self-isolate if they feel symptoms, to practice good hand hygiene and social distancing at work.

In settings where the 2-metre limit cannot be adhered to, alternative protective measures should be used such as installing physical barriers, wearing face masks and minimising any direct contact between workers. 

Nowhere in this document does it mention that workplaces will be inspected to make sure they are adhering to the protocol. That’s where the HSA comes in.

As outlined above, the agency has the powers to inspect these places and take action to shut down those who aren’t adhering to the rules.

However, a group of Dáil deputies – including the Social Democrats and People-Before Profit TDs – said in a joint statement last week the HSA is “neither equipped nor robust enough to carry out the scale of inspections necessary”. 

Speaking at the Oireachtas committee on Covid-19 Tuesday, Dr McGuinness said the authority’s inspection programme had been “refocused” to oversee compliance with the return to work protocol. 

sharon mcguinness hsa HSA CEO Dr Sharon McGuinness addressing TDs. Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

However, she was pressed by multiple members on fact that the HSA has a mere 67 inspectors at its disposal.

Also addressing the same committe, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Patricia King said this number is “not adequate at all”.  

“There is a resource issue,” she said. “The government has to improve the resource throughput to the HSA to do this job. The first phase of return is the construction sector and we are not satisfied at all that the resource inspectorate is there for that.

As the other phases of the economic reopening go on, this will get much more acute. Very small employers in the hospitality sector and so on will all require the same level of scrutiny.

Dr McGuinness said that talks are at an “advanced” stage with the government for more resources and she was hoping that the plan would be signed off “very shortly”. 

Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane pressed the HSA CEO on exactly how many more inspectors there would be whenever this additional support is given by government, saying “surely the HSA has a plan”. 

Dr McGuinness said they were “working through that final number” and that she would “prefer not to give an exact number because we are still in discussions”. 

“It is unacceptable that we cannot have the number here,” Cullinane retorted.

“We should have it. People want reassurance and to know that they will be protected. The figure of 67 is woefully inadequate. If Dr McGuinness cannot provide this committee, of all committees, with the numbers that does not instill confidence in me that the HSA will have the capacity it needs.”

Meat plants

One industry badly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak in recent weeks is the meat processing sector.  

Health officials have labelled the number of cases “worrying” after it was confirmed over 800 have been confirmed among workers in meat processing plants, including 16 clusters.

To put that into context, that’s around 3% of all confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. 

Were concerns about these meat plants raised with the HSA? 

david cullinane Sinn Féin's Cullinane

Here’s the exchange between Cullinane and Dr McGuinness:

Cullinane: “Can I just go back to Dr McGuinness? Has Dr McGuinness’s organisation any remit in relation to meat factories?”
McGuinness: “Yes. In terms of all workplaces, we have a role.”
C: “‘Yes’ is the answer. I thank Dr McGuinness. Did the HSA receive any complaints? Has Dr McGuinness’s organisation received any complaints in relation to meat factories?”
McG: “We have received a number of complaints.”
C: “Were there any inspections done on foot of those?”
McG: “Not at present, but because there is a national outbreak control team which takes from public health, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and ourselves.”

Dr McGuinness went on to say the issue in meat plants was very much directed by the “public health element”, in terms of getting the outbreak under control there and preventing others from getting sick and the virus spreading to the community. 

Arrangements for inspecting these meat plants were happening “as we speak”, she added.

However, she also admitted that despite 200 complaints of breaches of Covid-19 regulations since March, not all of the workplaces in question had been inspected.

Under further scrutiny from Social Democrats Róisín Shortall and Rise’s Paul Murphy, McGuinness said that the back to work protocol had given the HSA clarity on what duties employers have and what actions the agency can take when inspecting premises. 

“The protocol has put it in a way that is enabling us to enforce and ensure compliance with measures that workplaces can address,” she said.

“Workplaces and workers now understand where their role and obligations can be met.”

Certainly, the HSA has the powers to seek to shut down businesses that have unsafe practices.

With this new protocol, that will include powers to shut down employers that flout Covid-19 rules.  Critics have said that they’ve been slow to act so far. 

SIPTU manufacturing division organiser Greg Ennis told TheJournal.ie it was shocking to hear that the HSA hadn’t been inspecting meat plants thus far, given the warnings that workers and unions had been raising. 

“We wrote to the HSA complaining about their lack of inspectors,” he said. “I’ve been voicing concerns about the meat industry in general for the past three months. We didn’t want this to become another nursing home scenario.Now we have over 850 cases. Where clusters have broken out, we’ve been calling for workers to be withdrawn without loss of earnings.”

Minister for Business Heather Humphreys told the Dáil on Thursday that the number of new “additional resources working with the HSA” will be “in the hundreds”. She didn’t specify if these “additional resources” would all be inspectors.

The HSA spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that hundreds of inspections have been carried out this week.

“The Authority is checking for compliance with the Return to Work Safely Protocol and taking appropriate enforcement if and when necessary,” the spokesperson said.

“Over 400 onsite inspections (as of Thursday 21 May) have been undertaken this week across a range of industry sectors since the economy reopened under Phase 1 of the Roadmap on Monday 18 May.

These inspections were informed and directed by the complaints received as well as proactive and unannounced inspections for companies reopening under the Roadmap. 

Siptu’s Ennis, however, said it was entirely unnacceptable this was only happening now. 

“Within the manufacturing division of Siptu, we’ve 40,000 members in hundreds and hundreds of employments,” he said. “Many people have been working right through during this pandemic. 

To have 67 staff in the field is nowhere near enough. We’re hearing there’ll be more inspectors now, but that sort of an approach only coming towards the end of May is unacceptable. For the HSA to say they haven’t been inspecting [these meat plants] – there’s no excuse for them not to have been here for the last two months.
While I welcome the [Return to Work Safely] protocol, policing of that protocol is the key issue. If you don’t have the resources, it can’t be done correctly. 

Work in a meat plant or other industry that is being affected by an outbreak of Covid-19? You contact me at sean@thejournal.ie or on Threema with the ID 4RNZ67Z6

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    Mute Reg
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:34 PM

    You also have to consider that about half of those that go to college in Ireland are in receipt of some kind of grant. Something like 8 out of 10 for those from Donegal and 3 out of 10 of those from Dublin.

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    Mute TheLoneHurler
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    Aug 19th 2016, 7:51 PM

    I’d like to see a value-for-money comparison included – for example, the fees for a college/university and the ranking of said institution also.

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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:16 PM

    The Journal is a bit misleading on this. Cost of 3rd level for me cost €10 for an id card and €75 for i book i never read.. a couple of euro for printing per week. And yes i was covered by Susi. Its means tested system as it should be.. saying its the most expensive system is just tripe. Anywhere from 40%-70% get some sort of financial aid.

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    Mute Simone Hackett
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    Aug 20th 2016, 7:41 AM

    @reg its mid income families suffering here. But where can we find those statistics? How many students receive grants from the government?! That would be interesting

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    Mute Niamh Murtagh
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    Aug 22nd 2016, 12:36 PM

    So you had no accommodation costs, food costs, travel costs, materials, etc to pay? and you only needed one book for your entire course over however many years it was too?

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    Mute James O Brien
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:55 PM

    If fees are free people don’t appreciate the education vs if they have to pay by getting a part time job. People sign up to courses for the sake of it and many are dissatisfied and drop out. At least if there is a fee they will consider whether it’s worth it before wasting their time.

    Having said that, I think 3k is too high to pay on a part time job. It was 2k when I went which is much closer to a fair amount. I’d say 1.5k would be a fair level.

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    Mute Aoife
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:12 PM

    James. I agree with you on that one. If you look at Leo varadker for example, he went to a private school paid for by his parents and he doesn’t appreciate how difficult it can be for people less fortunate than himself to get through or even go to college.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:12 PM

    I’m sure most of the students who pay the fees get their parents to pay for it, and we don’t have any misunderstanding where the fees come from, and don’t appreciate it fully free few were available. i work my hole off to pay a huge amount of taxes, and every second of overtime is taxed at over 54%. For this, i have to pay over €1000 per year for free secondary education, and €3750 per year for third level. we have just had our daughter tell us she will be joining her sister in UCD, and the free few will leave us with a bill of €8500 to be paid by January. We have no chance of getting a SUSI loan for any component, but still we have to get a new loan every year. both girls work part time to pay for transport and a meagre “predrinks” social life, and it is obvious that this has impacted the quality of their study. At the end of their studies, we will have gathered over €30k in additional debt, and more than likely the kids will have to emigrate to get work. Ifc we didn’t have to fork out such a high amount for education, we would be able to sort them for getting started in either business or a place of their own to enable them to stay, but instead all we have to look forward to is personal poverty and the loss of our kids to entertain. Ireland truly is a kip.

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:33 PM

    In my day only farmers kids and self employed’s kids went to 3rd level…

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    Mute Dotrice Altrium Hollohatch
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:49 PM

    So incorrect it confirms your idiot status. Do you type the first thing that comes into your inadequate head?

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    Mute Dotrice Altrium Hollohatch
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:51 PM

    Unless you were born before WW2….

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    Mute Tony Canning
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:31 PM

    People who drop out are subject to full cost to repeat. That number isn’t so high. The idea that people don’t appreciate it as a blanket statement is rubbish.

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    Mute Maria Egan
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    Aug 20th 2016, 11:59 AM

    Well said Alien8…the financial hardship that 3rd level education inflicts upon middle income families is rarely discussed! Add rent and living expenses to fees and that annual debt more than doubles. I’ll be repaying the (savage) debt accrued to educate my kids until I’m seventy, and all because I earned a little over the upper ceiling for grant aid. So tired of struggling to make ends meet, and I’m a long way off seventy so the struggle continues. And now have the added hardship of youngest child working abroad, not his wish or mine. I would fully support a fair student loan system…I would much rather have the choice to contribute to my child student debt than to be flat broke until I’m seventy, with no opportunity to save for later life!

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    Mute Jonny
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:37 PM

    It would seem that being from an English speaking country is a curse in terms of cost of education.

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    Mute Martin Matthews
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    Aug 19th 2016, 7:31 PM

    The fees them selves are high but be manageable it is the cost of accommodation which is the difficulty. If you live a distance from the 3rd level colleges. Students need at least an other 7,000 euro per year for travel accommodation.

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    Mute John S
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    Aug 20th 2016, 7:45 AM

    600 quid a month for accommodation? what ever happened to students sharing rooms, slumming it etc like everybody did before entitlement Ireland took over?

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    Mute Niamh Murtagh
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    Aug 22nd 2016, 12:33 PM

    If you look at some of properties up online, that is what is being asked in rent rates for room shares and digs in cities. And as for Bedsits you would be paying more than that again.

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    Mute David Walsh
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:34 PM

    Students shouldn’t have the burden of college fees, the state should cover it as it’s an investment in the future of our country. I would shudder at the thought of where some of the money goes..

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    Mute Dotrice Altrium Hollohatch
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:42 PM

    Rubbish David. People don’t work hard to support students, who think they should have a monopoly on advancement and achievement.

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    Mute Dotrice Altrium Hollohatch
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:56 PM

    AND – some actually believe in ‘trinners for winners’ nonsense. NOW, they want the taxpayer to pay for it!

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    Mute David Walsh
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:21 PM

    So do you think it’s fair for an 18 year old, just out of school to start paying €3000 a year if they aren’t lucky enough to get a grant? I don’t think so.

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    Mute David Walsh
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:24 PM

    And Nick, how much of that goes towards the benefit of students and how much of it goes to over-lining the pockets of senior college staff?

    Only last year UL was under investigation for misapplication of college funds and paying off staff to keep it quiet. So think before you have sarcastic comments to make

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    Mute Keith Gregg
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:28 PM

    Some Dotrice. Not all. Everyone should have opportunities to do well and study to the level they wish or are able to. It would better benefit society. There are some very hard working students, but as mentioned rightly this week, there is too much of a focus on high academics, when for many a vocational or hands on route would be better, via PLC’s, VTOS, BTEI, Momentum etc… Every course should have work placements, or at the least industry placements, where hands on and soft skills could be solidified, though most workers are terrible at teamwork and problem solving.

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:51 PM

    Pity Ireland didn’t bring in a similar model to the uk (where the NHS pays for tuition fees uk/eu students doing social work, midwifery, nursing, dentistry and student accommodation for uk students).

    If the HSE paid Irish students 3000k fee and guaranteed them a job at the end of the 4 years it would something to keep our young ones from leaving the country to work elsewhere and knowing that they have some of the best education one can receive, on top of that they also speak fluent English and can converse and understand the Irish.

    But pigs don’t fly and the HSE aren’t there for the benefit of the general public.

    49
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    Mute James O Brien
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:59 PM

    3k per year is only 12k total. How many nurses would choose to stay here instead of moving for a once off payment of €12,000. Very few I imagine. The problem is wages not fees.

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    Mute Lily
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:39 PM

    Guaranteed job!!! They could always bring in a stipulation they had to work in Ireland for 3 years (thus gaining valuable work experience). It’s win win.

    I know my daughter wants to stay here and study but we are looking abroad for alternatives, I know that once she leaves she will never come back.

    If the bursary system is still in place in two years time she will be going to university in the UK, in London and it will work out cheaper even when we take into account accommodation as she would be laying the same in Ireland

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    Mute Stephen Coveney
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:53 PM

    @Lily
    Where the hell are you getting these guaranteed jobs? take for example 1000 students start there course in 2006, 4 years later in the midst of a recession the government now has to take on 1000 graduates when they have no money??

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    Mute Tony O' Leary
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:13 PM

    I moved nearly 5 years ago ..its 3 years here for nursing which the NHS pays for ..plus it wouldn’t be 3 k per year as majority of uni courses are 9k per year. There loads of Irish that do the same. The wages here a better as well its cheaper living hence why so many Irish decide to stay.

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    Mute Keith Gregg
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:31 PM

    Steven, there is still a recruitment freeze on front line services, while the admin side is haemorraging with over staffing, double jobbing and general skullduggery. People end up sick, a lot. You shouldn’t put a price on someone’s health, or indeed their life.

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    Mute John S
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    Aug 20th 2016, 7:50 AM

    Lily, stay here for 3 years? How are you policing this? You can’t force anybody to stay anywhere. That idea is great in theory, but not workable. Also, why should only nurses get it? They are not the only valuable profession….

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:52 PM

    The abolition of tuition fees in 1996 did very little – if anything at all – to increase the level of students of disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

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    Mute Jack Leahy
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:55 PM

    Of course it didn’t – because no one who knows their stuff on the subject of HE funding thinks of the funding mechanism as the silver bullet for access solutions. Access is a much, much broader question than how much you pay or don’t pay at the door.

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    Mute Jonny
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:17 PM

    That’s just blatantly untrue Ciaran! Any sources to back that up?

    How else do you explain the massive increase numbers attending third level since that time, increasing at a faster rate than the relevant birth rates for those years. It’s because people who couldn’t afford before now could! That means they were disadvantaged to begin with.

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:40 PM

    @Jonny

    DIT economics lecturer Sean Byrne wrote on this website two years ago:

    “A report on the operation of the third level grants system was commissioned by, Niamh Bhreathnach when she was Labour Minister for Education in the Fine Gael Labour Government of 1992 to 1997. The 1993 report by Donal de Buitleir showed that the grants system favoured farmers and the self-employed over PAYE workers, whose income was easily determined, while the income of farmers and the self-employed could be reduced by the offset of losses or declining agricultural prices and took no account of wealth.

    To solve this problem, de Butileir recommended including assets in the means test. This proposal was vetoed by Fine Gael. The report also showed that many high income parents were covenanting income equivalent to fees to their children and thus lowering their income tax payments.

    Niamh Bhreathnach responded by abolishing undergraduate tuition fees, arguing that this would increase participation in third level by students from low-income families. This was a questionable justification for abolishing tuition fees, as students from low-income families who secured a grant had their fees paid. The problem with the grants system was that for PAYE workers, the cut-off income for a grant was too low.

    Participation by students from low income families did increase somewhat, but remains low, while participation of students from well-off families is now among the highest in the OECD.”

    http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/third-level-tuition-fees-ireland-1797064-Nov2014/

    Bhreathnach’s decision meant that well-off parents were able to spend money on Leaving Cert grinds for their children, thus accelerating the points race.

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    Mute Jonny
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:55 PM

    The most relevant part in that passage is
    “Participation by students from low income families did increase somewhat”

    While it may not have made the playing field equal there is no doubt it made third level more accessible to those whom it wasn’t before.

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    Mute Keith Gregg
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:32 PM

    A lot of it is the attidues to education, and the ethos of going to third level. That takes a generation to start to kick in.

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:39 PM

    @Jonny

    ‘The most relevant part in that passage is
    “Participation by students from low income families did increase somewhat”’

    But not by much.

    There were grants available to students from low-income families before 1996. Of course, some people like to make farmers the scapegoats for problems with higher education.

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    Mute Anne Lebaupain
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:23 PM

    For those interested :
    Easy to find université fees for France : https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F2865
    184 euros for Bachelors/Degrees
    256 euros for Masters
    check list in link for fees for medicine, nurses, midwives (sage-femmes) etc…
    (all roughly same as above, some slightly higher)
    There’s social security fees to add to that (about same as above I think, not sure), some health cover, and maybe another 50 euros for other services like sports access, etc…
    If the student is entitled to a bursary they pay less (or maybe not at all).

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    Mute Joe Fingersmith
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    Aug 20th 2016, 8:16 AM

    Securite sociale is 215 euro for the year (of course you get a lot of more protection and better service from that than is possible in Ireland)

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    Mute Keith Gregg
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:23 PM

    They year i did my LC in 2001 – the Registration fee was £250. This went up to €750 with the Euro coming in. By the time I graduated in 2006, it was €1250 as far as I recall. Ten years later in 2016, its more than doubled, and has quadrupled since 2002.

    We have never had free education in Ireland. For Primary and Secondary, you have uniforms, books, photocopying, voluntary contributions (which are not voluntary in many cases). The government needs to get its finger out and fund education, so schools can afford light and heat (or maybe the energy companies could not charge schools and hospitals – seeing as they are vital to the country?). Like most things it is a token gesture. The politicians we have in power no longer want equity in this country, and even Labour – who introduced free fees – want them gone (possibly brainwashed by their marriage to FG). Some of the happiest countries in the World are in Scandinavia, worse weather, and higher taxes alright, but better public services, and generally a much happier and cheaper cost of living. this neo-liberal “we must pay for everything through charges” is non-sense. Return to a progressive tax system, and stop this stealth tax rubbish.

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Aug 19th 2016, 5:56 PM

    You can’t pay the lecturers entrepreneurial wages with platinum plated expenses and expect the service to be cheap…ditto for Teachers, Gardai, Nurses, Doctors….except the new ones they have all been screwed by their colleagues above them…

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    Mute John003
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:06 PM

    In Northern Ireland they are around £4,500 per year
    That is under SF rule

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    Mute Keith Gregg
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    Aug 19th 2016, 9:29 PM

    No John, The UK is ruled by the Tories. In NI the DUP and SF are in coalition, and have limited power – basically like Dublin City Council trying to implement things. Limited budget, limited everything.

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    Mute John003
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    Aug 20th 2016, 1:03 AM

    Well the Scottish assembly with same powers as NI assembly have managed to abolish University fees

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    Mute EC P Ford
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    Aug 19th 2016, 6:29 PM

    Don’t have kids then you don’t have to worry about fees

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    Mute Just Some Guy
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    Aug 19th 2016, 7:18 PM

    People in this country dont listen. They want everything handed to them for free

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    Mute Just Some Guy
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    Aug 19th 2016, 7:17 PM

    If you want to go to 3rd level go out and get a job.

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    Mute Kevin Denny
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    Aug 19th 2016, 8:35 PM

    As Reg above pointed out about half of our students don’t pay anything as it’s covered by a grant so the true average is about $1400. To some extent this will be true for other countries also – not as much I think. For countries with an income contingent loan system (incl Australia, NZ, UK) a significant number won’t pay anything either. The data refers to public universities so omits the significant private sector in the US, generally pricier.

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    Mute Aging Lothario
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    Aug 20th 2016, 2:21 AM

    I find that very hard to believe, the USA has easily the highest college fees in the world, in most cases it can cost more per month than the mortgage to keep a child in college.

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    Mute Seán J. Troy
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    Aug 20th 2016, 12:59 AM

    I mean, fair play for trying. But using GDP as a yard stick for determining affordability? You’re also aware that the OECD is only a fraction of the rich world, nevermind the whole world?

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    Mute tony walsh
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    Aug 20th 2016, 7:40 PM

    $60000 in USA

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